29th November 2010

A former restaurateur is fighting his divorce settlement in London after Italian courts left him forced to wait upon tables in order to pay maintenance to his wealthy heiress wife.

Francesco Traversa and millionairess Carla Freddi marred in Italy in 1987, but moved to London to have children and to open a chain of restaurants funded by Ms Freddi.

A prenuptial agreement had been signed to protect Ms Freddi's wealth, inherited from her family of industrialists and estimated at between £1.7m and £4.2m.

When the couple divorced in 2008, following alleged infidelity by Ms Freddi in 2001 and a subsequent separation in 2004, the Italian court ordered that Mr Traversa should leave the marital home in the UK's capital, and, as Mr Traversa's divorce lawyer in London said, he was also "required to pay maintenance to his wife, despite her enormous economic advantages".

Mr Traversa has been left with a bill for £57,000 in maintenance arrears and is seeking financial relief through the English and Welsh family law courts. A High Court judge has already dismissed the claim, and the case is now being heard by London's Civil Appeal Court.

Mr Traversa's divorce lawyer has argued that jurisdiction in London is relevant as both parties lived and worked in the city for many years.

"The orders for financial provision made in the courts in Italy have produced a result which is manifestly unjust," he added.

However, Ms Freddi's family law team argue that to decide the divorce settlement in London is unmerited as both parties are Italian by birth.

"It is quite clear that the husband understood that the (pre-nuptial) agreement protected resources held by the wife in her own name both then and in the future," her solicitor said.

The court of appeal will make its ruling at a later date.